Calumniae non temere credundum

In order, then, that we may as far as possible avoid being involved in it, I wish to show in words, as if in a painting, what sort of thing slander is, how it begins and what it does.

I should say, however, that Apelles of Ephesus long ago preempted this subject for a picture ; and with good reason, for he himself had been slandered to Ptolemy on the ground that he had taken part with Theodotas in the conspiracy in Tyre, although Apelles had never set eyes on Tyre and did not know who Theodotas was, beyond having heard that he was one of Ptolemy’s governors, in charge of affairs in Phoenicia. [*](The story is apocryphal, as Apelles must have been in his grave nearly a hundred years when Theodotus (not Theodotas) betrayed Ptolemy Philopator (219 3.c.).) Nevertheless, one of his rivals named Antiphilus, through envy of his favour at court and professional jealousy, maligned him by telling Ptolemy that he had taken part in the whole enterprise, and that someone had seen him dining with Theodotas in Phoenicia and whispering into his ear all through the meal; and in the end he declared that the revolt of Tyre and the capture of Pelusium had taken place on the advice of Apelles.